Where Folks in New Haven Eat Out

By CATHERINE JONES

Published: November 21, 1999

IF you are headed to New Haven, leave your Zagat guide at home. If you follow the crowds, rather than the reviews, you'll discover some of the best eating in town at places like Louis' Lunch, Richter's, Archie Moore's Bar & Restaurant, or Naples Pizza.

These are the neighborhood gathering places. But they are also independent landmarks in an already history-laden New Haven.

Why? Well, almost all measure their success in longevity (two just celebrated their 100th birthdays). Each has mastered the concept of pub food (by serving consistent fare and avoiding pretentious menu items). Each has an old tavern atmosphere, inspiring and allowing customers to grab knives and add their initials to the numerous carvings that decorate the old wooden tables. Each serves repeat customers including business people, Yale students and professors.

And finally, each is operated by people you can count on seeing day in and day out. It is these people and their steadfast loyalty to their establishment's particular history that truly separates these four from the rest.

Bricks and Burgers

Louis' Lunch is the cream of the crop. In 1895, from his roadside lunch wagon, Louis Lassen sandwiched a broiled beef patty between two slices of white bread for a customer on the run. Mr. Lassen continued to serve his burgers from his spot on Meadow Street until opening a luncheonette in 1916 in a space abutting a tannery at 202 George Street. His son, Erwin, remodeled its interior in 1929.

In 1946, Louis' grandson, Kenneth, who had once hoped to become an architect, inherited the family business, and has since devoted his life to making the salty, succulent medium-rare hamburgers, which are broiled vertically in the original cast-iron grills and sandwiched between toast prepared in a old rotating toaster. (The only garnishes allowed are cheese, onion and tomato, as anything more might mar the taste.)

Mr. Lassen saved the original building from destruction in 1975, overseeing the move to its present location at 261-3 Crown Street. There was one small problem with the new site: without the tannery, the building had only three walls. Immediately old friends and local patrons came to his rescue, arriving with bricks from all over the world that today make up ''the wall'' (Mr. Lassen expertly designed a small addition with the surplus bricks).

He will ask your heritage on your first visit to Louis', point to a spot from that region, and from there you can take a tour around the globe, guided by the bricks. People still send bricks, 25 years later; in fact, scores of them lie in wait in the basement should Louis' ever be threatened again.

You can find Mr. Lassen (known to regulars as Pa), his wife Leona (Ma), and his son Jeffrey (Jeff) behind the counter each day. You may have to stand to get your piece of history, as this pocket-sized building overflows at lunch time. After downing your $3 burger, you will probably feel tempted, as the band of regulars on swivel stools often do, to let them know that the meal was excellent, as usual. If so, one of the three might mutter a modest, delightful response: ''Thanks, I'll tell the chef when he comes in.''

One block away from Louis' is Richter's, at 990 Chapel Street, which used to be the tap room for the old Taft Hotel. While there are few carved tables remaining, the inscribed crew oars, framed napkin doodles and Guinness posters instill a similar imprint of time.

The devoted bartender, Dieter von Rabenstein, has a few stories to tell. He revealed, for example, that the original woodwork along the bar dates to the 1850's, when it was part of a building on the same site called the New Haven House. It became a part of the Taft Hotel in 1911, and it has only been moved once, in this case two floors underground, where it continued operation as a speak-easy during Prohibition. (From 1970 to 1983 the bar was boarded up while the hotel was converted into apartments).

Fortunately, H. Richter Elser stumbled upon the old landmark while exploring (and trespassing) in the underground stairways in 1981. Despite this illegal introduction, Mr. Elser was able to open Richter's in 1983.

Along with the well-known ''half-yards'' filled with beer (which take more than just practice to manage), Richter's serves meals that are, as Mr. von Rabenstein proudly says, ''a solid cut above bar food.''

The moist blackened chicken salad ($7) and the salty Reuben on marble bread ($6.50) were my favorites. Also fresh and satisfying were the the sweet potato soup ($4.50) and the crab cake special ($7).